June 11, 2010

World Cup 2010

An so it begins.

I haven't been this amped for a World Cup in a long time. Probably not since I was able to truly experience it for the first time while living in Chile when they qualified for West Germany 1974, and I watched an entire nation come to a halt each time they took the field half a world away.

Part of my excitement for S.A. 2010 is the anticipation (a more than a little nationalistic pride) of following a USA team that has at long last established itself as a legitimate player on the world stage. Not a title contender—that is almost certainly at least another decade away—but as a side with reasonable expectation of advancing out of group play and perhaps beyond.

But there's so much more:

The venue, South Africa, and all that signifies.

The coverage, bigger, better and by orders of magnitude more in-depth than ever, allowing me to follow all the teams, and all the stories, as never before.

The passion of the world for this event, just starting to seep into the consciousness of a US popular culture that for so long has at best ignored, and at worst chosen to demean it, simply because—well, I don't really know the reason.

But that doesn't matter now ... World Cup 2010 is upon us.

Bring. It. On.

The magic of the Opening Match


The curtain-raiser to a FIFA World Cup™ is always an extra-special occasion. And after four long years of waiting, the football family will be glued to the action this afternoon as South Africa take on Mexico in the Opening Match.


'The whole world is watching'


When the referee blows his whistle to usher in the tournament, all the accumulated tension will simply drain away, not just amid the 22 players on the pitch, but also among fans across the globe, who have had to go four long years without experiencing the magic of the FIFA World Cup. "It's fantastic because the whole world will be watching," Mexico's Carlos Vela told FIFA.com.


Quite apart from marking the beginning of a month of fun, excitement and superb football, the Opening Match has produced a number of shock results down the years ...

CLICK to read more

June 8, 2010

What if the Offensive Line Doesn't Suck?

Now don’t get all crazy on me, but what if the 2010 Redskins offensive line this season turns out to be, you know ... good?

Most Redskins observers—bloggers, media, Clavins at the bar—have preached for what seems a very a long time that the offensive line has been and remains a glaring team weakness. And given how ugly it has gotten on the field at times, there is still plenty of echoing evidence to support the notion.

The new regime at Redskins Park this offseason certainly seemed to "get it," saying early on that the lines were going to be a priority. It seemed logical enough to conclude that they would hit the ground running in free agency and the draft to restock the offensive line.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to their first training camp. They really didn’t ...

Yes, they did start the free agency period by bringing in two relatively obscure offensive linemen, veteran journeyman Artis Hicks and third-year man Kory Lichtensteiger.

And they did later spend the fourth overall pick in the NFL Draft to take their highest-rated left tackle on the board, LT Trent Williams, and I don’t undersell that move—it could pay dividends for years.

But that has pretty much been it.

They may still pick up another body or two in late free agency or from training camp cut-downs later this summer, but with each passing day the likelihood of finding a plug-and-play starter via that route gets slimmer.

All of which makes reading reports like this one on the current state/attitude of the five gentlemen currently projected to start the season against Dallas on September 12 that much more ... relevant.

Seriously, if you had predicted back in March that come June they would be projecting a starting lineup of a rookie left tackle, Derrick Dockery, Casey Rabach, Big Mike Williams and Artis Hicks, I’d have told you you were nuts ...

May 22, 2010

2010 Offseason As Seen From Afar

This is a strange time of year for the gridiron obsessed.  Free Agency has dwindled to a trickle and the occasional second (third?) tier signing. The NFL Draft is a memory.  Training camp is still a couple months away.  It would be easy, if one was to allow it, to lose sight of the seismic shift that has taken place in the world of the Washington Redskins. 

At the very top, Daniel Snyder is still the owner.  Beyond that, however, not much remains of the previous administration ... or even the previous several.

Departed, unlamented de facto General Manager Vinny Cerrato, tragi-comic symbol of the dysfunction that has befallen the storied Redskins brand since Jack Kent Cooke died in 1997 ... gone. In his place, Bruce Allen, legacy, son of former Redskins Hall of Fame Head Coach George Allen.

Bruce Allen may not be a reputation superstar quite on the level of the Indianapolis Colts' Bill Polian or even Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, but is generally respected both in and out of the game.  He is, in short, the "real GM" Redskins fans loudly and consistently have called for over recent years.  This transition is also the biggest surprise in recent years---no one saw Cerrato's departure coming. 

Former Head Coach and quasi-granola Jim Zorn, as likable as they come but clearly not ready for the big headset handed to him two years ago ... gone.  In his place, Mike Shanahan, future first-ballot Hall of Fame Head Coach. 

Yes that Mike Shanahan.  The one with the two Super Bowl titles.  The list of NFL head coaches who have won two or more Super Bowls is special enough: Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Tom Landry, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Belichick and Mike Shanahan.

Know who has won two in a row? 

Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Belichick ... Mike Shanahan.

If the words "Mount" and "Rushmore" don't at least flit across your mind, they probably should.

May 5, 2010

A Word on Karl Swanson

Few men I have met support the old adage "I would rather be respected than liked" better than Karl Swanson.

The Washington Redskins long-time Senior Vice President of Public Relations and owner Daniel Snyder's top lieutenant at Redskins Park, Swanson stepped down from his position this week.

Much has been written about Swanson over the years, precious little of it flattering. On a scale of 1 to 10 on the Liked Scale, I think it's safe to say Karl Swanson would barely move the needle.  What I find amusing about that is, in the privacy of his own mind, I think that might just please him.

Karl doesn't do maudlin so I wouldn't go there even if I thought it appropriate. But I do think he might appreciate this little vignette, as recalled through the eyes of someone who was paying attention ...

The initial meeting between internet fan site Extremeskins ("ES") and the Washington Redskins happened to fall on the day the Redskins' 2005 regular season schedule was announced.

I was one of four ES representatives on hand that day, and if memory serves, there were somewhere in the neighborhood of ten Redskins reps. 

Three of us ES types were at the big conference table (the fourth opted for an easy chair off to one side—that's how he rolls), along with three or four team Suits and a couple of intern types.

Arrayed around the room, standing against the walls and in front of the big picture windows overlooking the practice field, were another half-dozen or so team reps, wearing everything from $2500 suits to $25 polos.

And against one wall, by himself, in business casual and comfortably ensconsed in an easy chair, was Karl Swanson. I'm pretty sure he had an unlit cigar in his hand whole time, but that could just be memory filling in the blanks with what the minds' eye says should have been there.

Karl didn't have much to say that day. Which was understandable, given it was he who brokered the meeting and got that unlikely assemblage in the room in the first place. If the merger was going to work, the fanboys and the Suits were going to have to be able to find common ground.  Only so much Swanson could do at that point, and I had the impression he was simply sizing up and assessing the interaction between the message board geeks and the professional football franchise.

Or I suppose he could have just been bored out of his mind ...